


Gotta Ketch'em All!

by FunnyWings



Series: Psych/Supernatural Crossover Series [6]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: AU, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Psychic!dean, based off of episode Extradition: British Columbia, cop!Charlie, cop!cas, except not really, part of a series, psych au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 18:29:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9136249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FunnyWings/pseuds/FunnyWings
Summary: With Novak down after having been shot and multiple villains on the loose, it's up to fake psychic Dean Winchester and the rest of the SBPD to save the day! Meanwhile, Sam and Eileen struggle with their relationship issues.Part of the Psych/Supernatural Crossover Series. I'd suggest reading the rest first, but if you want to start with this one, no one is stopping you.Based off of Psych episode: Extradition: British Columbia.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So sorry how long this took me, but for those of you that have been following, you finally get to see what happened to Cas! Hope you enjoy, and let me know what you think!
> 
> Also, I included Arthur Ketch in this one, so let me know what you think and if you want him to come back.

“Dean Winchester, you get your ass down here right now.”

Well, that was never good. Dean exchanged a glance with Sam who looked up from the detective novel he’d stolen from Dean’s book case. Then he ran out of his room and got down the stairs as quickly as possible. He stumbled slightly on the last step before seeing his dad standing there with his arms crossed.

“Yes, sir?” Dean asked. John Winchester didn’t say anything for a moment, letting his son stew in the ignorance of why he was in trouble. Dean knew it could be any number of things, but he had learned at this point not to confess to anything prematurely. His dad had used that trick on him more than once.

“So, Dean. Do you want to explain to me exactly why it is you’re not competing with the robotics team you begged me to sign you up for?” asked John with narrowed eyes. Dean groaned and looked up at the ceiling. “I don’t want to hear it, young man. You made a commitment, you are going to see it through.”

“But dad-“

“I said I don’t want to hear it. Now, I just got a call from your faculty supervisor wondering if you were going to be showing up to the competition today. I said yes, so you’re going to get in the car and go with me.”

“C’mon! I quit like three weeks ago. They just want me there because they can’t compete unless they have six people on their team. They won’t let me do anything, they just made me sit around while they got to do the cool stuff.”

“You’re a freshman. It’s called paying your dues Dean, and you better get used to it. If you want a career in law enforcement you’re going to have to be prepared to be assigned boring cases. It’ll be a while before you get to any of the ‘cool stuff’.”

Dean slumped his shoulders, knowing that there was no way his dad was going to go back on this. He didn’t want to go to the competition. Everyone on his team had treated him like he was an idiot and hadn’t let him anywhere near the equipment. It didn’t matter how many times he’d tried to explain he knew what he was doing with it. The people on his team had written him off as soon as they had seen him as… not nerdy enough or something.

“Fine,” Dean said. “I’ll go get in the car.”

“Good,” said John. He paused a moment seeing Dean’s miserable expression. “When we make commitments kid, sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to do. Grin and bear it, and someday it’ll be worth it.”

“Whatever you say dad,” said Dean, trudging his way out to the car. No one on his team even talked to him while he was there, unless they were actively encouraging him not to participate. Dean pasted on a smile and did what he could where he could.

He might have noticed a problem with the mechanics of the robot and made a minor fix when no one was watching. That felt pretty good, even if he knew he couldn’t actually tell the other guys on his team that he helped, because he’d be blamed for anything that went wrong.

When it was over, Dean was just glad he got to go home.

“That wasn’t so bad was it?” asked John. Dean didn’t bother answering.

*******PRESENT DAY********

“That wasn’t so bad was it?” asked John Winchester, after having stitched up the hole in Castiel’s shoulder. The cop let out a kind of pained laugh and shook his head. He turned it to stare at the bullet that had been lodged there only minutes before.

“Hey, Cas,” said Dean, leaning over him. “C’mon buddy, use your words. How’re you doing?”

“I’ve… been better,” Castiel said. He turned to John Winchester. “You’re sure it didn’t hit any arteries?”

“Nope. You’re good, kid,” said John. He managed a tight smile for the cop before he turned to Dean. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

“Uh, yeah,” said Dean. John took a second to pass over a flask to Castiel who gratefully took a swallow to dull the pain while John led Dean away. “Explain.”

“Explain what? I was driving Cas to therapy and some psychopath tried to shoot him.”

“And why didn’t you take him to a hospital?”

“Because that’s the first place a psychopath would look?” said Dean. His dad’s expression said try again. Dean sighed. “We had a case a while back. It involved an assassin. I happen to know she got out of jail time on a technicality. I don’t know it was her, but I’ve got a pretty strong hunch. And if she knows where he is, he’s a dead man.”

“Dean, you know I can’t keep something from going wrong right? If I messed up and there are complications, he has to go to a hospital.”

“Jesus Christ, dad, of course I know that. I’m not a fucking idiot, okay?” said Dean. He only realized after he’d stopped talking that he’d been raising his voice. “Look, just let him stay here for now. Just until I know what’s happening.”

John glanced back toward the other room. He looked like he wanted to argue, but ended up relenting.

“Alright. But if he starts running a fever, we take him to the hospital. Understood?”

“We’ll see,” was all Dean had to say to that. “I’ve got to make a couple of calls.”

“I asked if you understood me, Dean.”

“And I said I have to make a couple of calls. Or do you not think that Cas’ sister deserves to know her brother’s been shot?” said Dean. John knew Dean was challenging him, and he almost fell for the bait but decided ultimately it wasn’t going to help anything so he just waved Dean off to do his calls. He just hoped his son knew what he was doing.

***************

It wasn’t unusual for Eileen to sleep in when she was on vacation. Her job was high stress and low rest, and recently vacation had meant spending the weekend at Sam’s, which was a fairly restful place to be. Despite often sleeping late though, she wasn’t really used to waking up alone and wasn’t happy when it happened that day.

“Sam,” she said seeing him across the room. “Go back to sleep.”

Sam signed at her at that it was eleven a.m. Eileen wasn’t sure why that was relevant.

“I need my personal space heater,” she said, making Sam laugh. He sat at the edge of the bed and smiled down at Eileen before pressing a kiss against her nose.

“Is that why you keep coming back here?”

“You’ve caught me,” Eileen said. She smiled up at him and then finally admitted defeat and sat up. She was pretty sure the shirt she was wearing was his, because it was way too big for her, and had something to do with an exhibition for Islamic art that had been at the Santa Barbara Art Institute five years ago.

She moved closer to where Sam was sitting. He looked nervous. She frowned at him.

“Everything alright?” she asked. “I don’t have any weapons right now, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“No,” Sam said. Eileen raised an eyebrow but let it go and pressed a kiss against Sam’s cheek because it was eleven in the morning and she could. Relationships… well they had been few and far between and Eileen hadn’t let any get as far as she had with Sam, and she knew that he hadn’t either. And the lovestruck look on his face when she kissed him just to kiss him was one of her favorite things to see.

“I love you,” she said. It wasn’t the first time she said, but it was still something she had to force out despite the fact it was true. Love wasn’t exactly an advantage in her line of work, but she wasn’t going to deny it now that she had found it. She just still had a few of her own issues to work out from having spent her life being told not to trust anyone too much. And she was working through them.

“I love you, too,” Sam said, eyes softening for a moment before he coughed and looked down. “That’s actually, uh, that’s what I wanted to talk about.”

“About how much you love me?” Eileen asked, mocking Sam slightly. Sam pushed her lightly away from him and she smiled. “I’m listening.”

“Look, Eileen,” said Sam, swallowing before meeting her eyes again. “I know we haven’t spent a ton of time… in the same time zone even, but… I’ve never felt like this before. And I don’t ever want it to end. So I, uh…”

“You?” Eileen prompted with raised eyebrows when he didn’t go on. Sam looked down and then reached in his pocket to pull out a box. “Oh… oh.” Eileen said realizing what that meant.

“Eileen…”

“If the next words out of your mouth aren’t “will you marry me”, then this is the worst break up ever.”

“Well, yeah. That.”

“Can I see the ring first?”

Sam rolled his eyes at Eileen’s teasing, finally relaxing as she smiled up at him. She reached for the box and he tucked it behind his back before looking at her hopefully.

“Yes,” said Eileen before leaning forward to grant a light kiss. “Now am I allowed to see it?”

“Hopefully every day for the rest of your life,” said Sam, handing over the box. “If that’s cool with you, I mean.”

“No, I said yes as a joke,” said Eileen, rolling her eyes. It was just a silver band, which was thoughtful of Sam. Any kind of gem would have made it very impractical to wear in the field since it might get snagged on something. This one still might, but it had way less of a chance of doing so. “So I guess this means we’re engaged now. Should we have a party or something?” Eileen shrugs at Sam’s incredulous expression. “I’m new to this.”

Sam let loose a laugh before signing back to Eileen that they could try to arrange something for the next time she had time off, so Mildred could be there and Sam could see if his mom could have time off. He might actually have gotten a little too into the details of that so Eileen decided to distract him a little.

Unfortunately her carefully and quickly planned distraction was derailed when Sam’s phone rang. Eileen was alerted to this when Sam gently pushed her back and signed that his phone was going off to her.

“It could be more important than me I suppose,” said Eileen. Sam’s mouth dropped open and he looked like he was about to start apologizing before Eileen let him off the hook. “Sam, I was kidding. It’s probably Dean. You should answer it.”

“You almost had me there,” Sam said, reaching for his phone. “If this is a case, I’m not doing it, don’t worry.”

“Why not?” asked Eileen, reaching a foot out to poke him in the side. He batted it away and rolled his eyes. “I could help out.”

“What? No,” said Sam, looking incredulous. Before Eileen could respond he answered the phone, leaving her to wonder why exactly she wouldn’t be allowed to help. She was going to bring it up, but from the expression on Sam’s face she suspected it was a bad time. “Dean? Cas got what…? Yeah, I’ll be there… fuck, you have the car.”

“I have a rental,” Eileen signed at Sam. He nodded at her gratefully.

“Never mind, I forgot Eileen rented a car. I’ll be there as soon as I can. How are you holding up?”

Sam paused and looked annoyed at Dean’s response.

“Yeah well I thought I’d ask.”

Sam hung up and threw on a shirt and grabbed Eileen’s car keys from where she pointed them out. Eileen was dressed within a minute. She was used to having to be ready to go quickly and had a feeling something was wrong.

“What happened, Sam?” she asked. Sam turned around so she could read his lips.

“Novak got shot. Dean’s with him now at our dad’s house. I’m going to head over to make sure Dean’s okay.”

“Okay let’s go,” said Eileen. Sam froze when he heard this. Eileen looked at him in question. “Unless… you don’t want me there.”

“It’s not that, it’s just… this is all wrapped up in Dean’s psychic thing. You don’t need to get involved in that nonsense.”

“The nonsense that you use to make a decent portion of your income?” Eileen said with eyebrows raised.

“Well…”

“So whenever I’m here I’m just supposed to sit around and do nothing? You just said that Castiel, your brother’s boyfriend got shot. For all you know you could be getting shot at. That is my area of expertise,” Eileen said trying to maintain some of the light affection of the morning and not let her frustration bleed through.

“Oh come on, Eileen I didn’t say that. This is just… you know family stuff. And you’re on break right now. Don’t you want to relax for a weekend?”

“Sam… do you think I don’t want to be involved in your life?” asked Eileen. Sam glanced back at the door before he looked as though he were about to go into some kind of speech. Eileen didn’t want to know what he was going to say. She could feel something ugly building in her gut, and she didn’t want anything she said to be out of anger. “If you don’t want me to go, I won’t go.”

Sam let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank you,” said Sam, kissing her cheek before leaving quickly. Eileen watched him go and decided that some preliminary investigations into why exactly someone might want to shoot Officer Castiel Novak weren’t going to go unappreciated, even if she apparently wasn’t welcome to go visit her future brother in law when he needed family around.

***************

Crowley expected to be treated well on his return. Or at the very least with a certain amount of dignity. He had been able to run certain portions of his organization even from within jail, and he knew he was losing business while he was inside, but he hadn’t expected it to be quite as extensive as it had been or for newcomers to have made up as much ground as they had. But more than that, his workers had taken to treating him with almost blatant disrespect that had him itching to kill the lot of them to remind them exactly how he got where he was.

He probably would have too, if he didn't need them in order to figure out exactly where the bloody cop who had ruined his life was. If anything he used the little indignities he was experiencing in order to carefully stroke the fire of his hatred so that he could appropriately inflict the correct amount of pain on the officer when he found him.

He had Simon on monitoring hospitals, but he didn’t have much hope of Novak showing up in one of those. the psychic was too smart for that, so it would require Crowley getting very, very lucky for Novak to be in a situation as helpless as a hospital bed. Still, even if he had to wait until Novak had been lured into a false sense of security and was back on active duty, Crowley was going to kill him. And he was going to make sure it was a fairly agonizing death.

However, his return hadn’t gone unnoticed by new entities in the Santa Barbara crime scene, and he’d already been left a little surprise by someone that had decided to go on some sort of crime spree. The note that had been left for him and been equal parts amusing and irritating, though Crowley decided to leave whoever it was to their own devices. He had no need to make new enemies until he had sorted out his personal revenge. Until then, the mysterious card sender would be free to steal as broadly as he desired as long as he didn’t steal from Crowley himself. It was rather polite to leave a calling card in any case, and Crowley certainly believed in civility.

He glanced back at the card and read it over again. ‘Came to say hello, but saw the King was still out. Word of warning, I’ve been planning a few heists, and I’d hate to step on any toes. Perhaps I’ll “catch” you another time. Cheers.’

Crowley snorted and put the noted back in his pocket. Whether this new face were going to be ally or enemy could be decided later. For now, he had more irritating fish to fry.

***************

Chief Jody Mills prided herself on being relatively unflappable. She liked to think of herself as the steadying hand in the storm, and the smack in the ass to anyone that slacked off on duty. She ran a tight ship, and despite some serious efforts by criminal elements to upend it, she had kept the SBPD functional and efficient. It was one reason why when she got wind of the loss of a Monet from the Santa Barbara Art Institute she didn’t feel the panic a less confidant chief might feel. Instead she called in her best officer, even if he had missed a therapy session that she fully intended to chew him out for. Novak never minded giving up his days off if there was an important case, and if anything seemed to appreciate it when Jody trusted him with them.

Color her surprised when only Officer Bradbury and the Winchesters shuffled through her door.

“Where’s Novak?” she asked immediately. “Naomi called to bitch about him missing another session. He’s not sulking, is he?”

Jody could tell by the looks on their faces that she’d gotten it wrong.

“Is Novak okay?” she asked slowly.

“He got shot,” said Charlie quickly. “On his way to Naomi’s. If Dean hadn’t had a vision and turned the car-“

“Yeah, but he still got hit in the shoulder,” Dean broke in. “He should be fine, but we were… concerned about letting the news spread in the station. Just in case someone’s looking for him. We don’t want his location revealed.”

Jody frowned at Dean.

“Hit in the shoulder is better than dead. Novak’s lucky you were there.”

“Unless it’s my fault someone’s after him,” Dean muttered. No one really knew what to say to that, and Jody didn’t really want to remember the Azazel case, so she decided unless evidence arose that whoever had it out for Novak was related to it, she wasn’t going to bring it up. As far as she knew, Azazel’s obsessions had been personal and his business partners had covered up for him when he’d… indulged in them. She had a stronger feeling that Naomi was involved than anyone related to Azazel. She figured she’d put Alfie and Donna on it. They were trustworthy and could be discreet if she asked them to. She needed the psychic and Charlie on the case that was going to get more news coverage if she wanted to keep her job.

“I’m sorry to hear this, and let Novak know that I hope he gets better soon. We need him here,” Jody said. “But unfortunately for all of you, we have a case. Charlie, you and Jenna are going to have to be on this one.”

“Can’t I work with Alfie?” asked Charlie. Jody shook her head and ignored the officer’s pout. She was too soft on Charlie as it was, and besides, strategically it made better sense to leave Donna and Alfie as a unit. Charlie was a strong woman, she could suck it up and work with an ex.

“This is why we have rules about dating work colleagues,” Jody pointed out with raised eyebrows at Charlie, who for what it was worth shrugged it off pretty well. Dean Winchester on the other hand started coughing loudly at that, and Jody looked over at him suspiciously before deciding she didn’t want to know. “Here’s the case file. Get started. And send Donna and Alfie in!” she called after them as they scurried out. “I’ve got a case for them too.”

She waited patiently as two new officers made their way into her office. Good. As long as she had everything reasonably under control there was no need for any more officers to get hurt. Already the fact that Novak had gotten shot on her watch when she knew there was something fishy about Naomi was making her skin prickle uncomfortably. She and Novak had their differences, sure, but when it came down to it he was one of hers, and she didn’t let her own get hurt without retribution.

“Alfie, Donna, quit dawdling and sit,” she said. “And make sure the door is closed.”

Both officers complied immediately. Jody eyed them both until at last Donna cleared her throat.

“Hiya Jodes,” she said with a nervous smile. “You have a case for us?”

Jody nodded and passed over the file she had put together to Alfie for both him and Donna to look over.

“I want to start by saying all information I’m about to give you does not leave this room until I say it can,” Jody said, trying to impress within her words the severity of the situation. “Officer Castiel Novak has been shot and is currently receiving medical care.”

“What?” Alfie said, his face going pale. He stood up and his seat knocked back an inch from the force of it. “Is he okay?”

“Sit down Officer Alfred,” Jody said authoritatively, narrowing her eyes at him. She didn’t want anyone getting wind of what was happening or have to fend off prying eyes at the door. Alfie complied after a few seconds of looking ready to run off to assist Castiel, however he thought that was going to happen, and sat. Donna looked just as shaken as Alfie and the two of them waited for Jody to go on. “As far as I have heard, Novak is fine. I’ll keep you updated when I learn more. Don’t share the information with anyone. For now I want you on the case of who exactly decided it would be a good idea to use one of Santa Barbara’s finest as target practice. If you look through the file, I just gave you, you’ll see a good starting point.”

Alfie opened it up and was surprised to immediately see the name Naomi Prellis, along with preliminary investigations into recent phone records of hers. She apparently had been in contact with the state prison in recent months, and those phone calls were highlighted. Alfie looked up at Jody.

“You started this before Cas got shot,” he said. Jody, for once, couldn’t hold his gaze.

“I had my suspicions about her,” Jody admitted. “I didn’t think Novak would get shot in broad daylight outside her office. I figured if she knew I was onto her…”

“We understand,” Donna broke in. And Alfie did already look forgiving, despite the strained look he had just been giving her. The two of them had always been quick to shrug off grudges when people they respected were involved. Jody suspected it was why they worked well together. “We’re on it. Naomi won’t know what hit her.”

Jody grinned. Another thing about Donna and Alfie, they were loyal and both of them thought the world of Novak. There was no way Naomi wasn’t going to be hit full force by this dynamic duo.

***************

The Santa Barbara Institute of Art was actually a surprisingly common tourist attraction, though less so in recent years. Well surprising to Dean. Sam, it turned out was a member and was familiar enough with it that when he and Charlie and Jenna made their way inside, he knew which way to turn to find where they needed to go. The place was buzzing with press who had heard of the missing Monet and were aflutter to make someone look bad. Anything to sell papers, Dean supposed.

“Officers?” asked a familiar voice. Dean had forgotten that Sarah worked here. Clearly Sam had too, because he practically jumped when he heard her voice. She frowned when she noticed him and Dean. “What are you two doing here?”

“Uh… we,” said Sam. “Well, see the thing is-“

“I’m psychic,” Dean said. He pointed at Sam briefly before pointing back at himself. “We solve crimes. It’s kind of a family business. Haven’t seen you in a while Sarah. Did we miss invitations to the wedding?”

Sarah turned bright red and then smiled.

“You saw the ring, huh?” she said with a sheepish glance at Sam. Then she seemed to realize everything else that came out of Dean’s mouth. “Wait… you’re not psychic. Psychics don’t exist, and even if they did I’m pretty sure we called the police, not Harry Houdini.”

“Harry Houdini was a magician, not a psychic,” said Sam.

“Sam would know, he’s into that. Good thing his ridiculously awesome girlfriend doesn’t mind,” said Dean. “Ain’t that right, Sammy?”

Sam rolled his eyes at Dean before turning back to a visibly confused Sarah.

“We’re here as consultants to the SBPD. Officers Bradbury and Nickerson will be taking your case. They’re right over there if you want to have a word with them. We’ll just be looking around, okay, Sarah? Could you point us in the direction of the stolen painting?”

“Uh, yeah. It used to be right over there,” Sarah said, sounding as though she’d rather not be telling them. It was another second of looking between the two of them before she turned and went to speak with Charlie and Jenna. She pointed back at them while she was speaking to them, and Dean saw Charlie make the expression she always did when she had to explain that, yes, the SBPD has in fact hired a psychic as a consultant. Dean smiled at her and gave a little salute before following Sam toward the wing where the painting had been stolen.

“Well, you waited a whole five minutes before mentioning Eileen,” Sam muttered when they got to the wall. It was indeed pictureless.

“What? You’re too respectable Sam. You see an ex and your first thought isn’t let me shove in their face how awesome my CIA girlfriend is?” asked Dean.

“No, it’s not. Besides Sarah’s not an ex, she’s… ex-adjacent. And, you know, I don’t remember you bragging about Novak to Cassie,” said Sam. Dean only had to glare for him to take it back. “Sorry. You getting anything from this? Because I just sort of see a white wall where a picture used to be.”

“Nope. Nothing. Wait,” Dean said, holding his finger against his forehead. “No, that was also nothing. Wanna go eavesdrop on Jenna and Charlie for a while?”

“Nothing?”

“What this guy’s good.”

“You know it’s a guy?”

“Statistically speaking, sure,” said Dean. “But I meant guy in the gender neutral bad guy sense. So d’you think you’ll ever not stutter when you have to speak to a girl, even after you and Eileen have like five kids?”

“Okay, first of all I didn’t stutter. Second of all, Eileen and I are not having five kids. We’ve had this talk, and she says I’ll be lucky if she takes nine months off once, let alone five times.”

“I figured you’d be like Brangelina,” said Dean. “Adopt a litter of kiddies.”

“Brangelina broke up.”

“You’re a real debby downer, you know that Sam?” said Dean. “Look on the bright side of…” Dean paused having caught sight of something interesting. “…life.”

Sam tried to follow Dean’s eyeliner and noticed a reporter wearing a particularly low-cut top. He snorted at Dean. Typical.

“You know, if you and Novak are really serious maybe you should stop ogling random women. Especially since he just got seriously injured.”

“For your information, I happen to be ogling a random man,” said Dean.

“Is that supposed to be better?”

“It’s case related jackass,” muttered Dean. “Funny thing about artists. They can’t help but admire their own work can they?”

The man Dean had caught sight of seemed to realize that Dean was watching him. He winked and then disappeared around the corner.

“Hope you’re wearing your running shoes, Sammy,” said Dean. He didn’t wait for a response before he tore out of the museum’s revolving door and sped around the corner he’d seen the thief disappear around, and he was sure that it was the thief, because he had been wearing the same colors as the Monet that had disappeared.

Sam was right behind him, and Dean yelled back for him to catch up as he guessed the next corner, catching a flash of a bright blue pocket square as the man took another corner. Dean dashed after him and when he reached the corner he discovered… a dead end. Fuck, that was really not worth the asthma attack he was currently having.

“Hey!” Sam shouted after him. He stopped trying to catch his breath. “What was that about?”

“Remind me… never to… run again,” Dean said between pants. “He was here, I swear.”

Sam looked around the three walls and back at Dean a little incredulously. There was nowhere for anyone to hide. No possible way to leave except the obvious of going out the way one came. Dean seemed to be processing the same. He scrunched his eyes shut and stood there a moment while Sam wondered just what the hell was going on.

“He was wearing…” Dean muttered. “He kind of bulged out at the gut, right? But there’s no fucking way.”

Dean looked up and then smacked Sam who looked up just in time to catch sight of a figure that had been on the rooftop. It was almost dramatic, seeing him disappear, almost as though he were a shadow in the bright Santa Barbara sun.

“No fucking way,” Dean said again. “I think he has like… an actual utility belt! Coolest villain ever!”

“Really, Dean?” asked Sam, unimpressed. “He just stole a thirty million dollar painting. Try to pick your jaw up off the ground.”

“You are like no fun today,” said Dean. “Seriously, what’s your issue?”

Before Sam could have a chance to respond Jenna and Charlie ran up behind them, both with hands resting lightly on their fire arms in case they needed them. They stopped short seeing that Sam and Dean were standing in front of a dead end doing nothing.

“What was that?” Jenna asked. “You guys just took off.”

“It’s… a vision thing,” said Dean. “I’m getting… British. Spy movies. I’m thinking that our thief was able to escape undetected because he has some really sweet toys.”

“You can’t compare an art thief to James Bond,” groaned Sam.

“Is him questioning you a psychic thing?” Jenna asked, looking at Charlie with an unimpressed raised eyebrow. Charlie shrugged innocently before mouthing at Dean and Sam to start making some freaking sense.

“It’s more of a brother thing,” said Dean. “What I’m trying to say is I’m sensing he’s going to steal again and we need the roofs to be watched. I’m sensing he has the capability of scaling buildings with mechanical assistance.”

Dean paused for a second.

“You know I wonder what it’s made of? Like a grappling hook belt would have to be able to take a fair amount of weight, and I’d put him at what… 175?”

Dean shut up when Sam hit him.

“Getting real specific on the vision there,” said Jenna, sounding more weirded out than suspicious. “175. We’ll put that down in our notes. Are they usually that specific?”

“Nope,” said Dean. He was saved having to explain further when his phone starting vibrating. He checked on saw it was his dad. Then he saw he had two missed calls from him that must have happened during the chase. “Look, I should take this.”

Dean turned from the other three and let Sam deal with Charlie and Jenna’s questions while he answered the phone. Hopefully it wasn’t anything-

“Novak’s running a fever,” John said without preface. “I need to take him to a hospital. Thought I’d let you know first.”

“What- No, dad you cannot do that. We still don’t know who’s after him,” Dean said. God, he could feel the blood draining from his face. Cas was supposed to be okay. He’d been fine the last time Dean saw him. Fuck, he’d been trying to make Jo laugh about the whole fucking ordeal.

“He could die,” said John, sounding frustrated. “There’s no point keeping him safe from a sniper if he dies from blood poisoning.”

“Shit,” Dean muttered into the phone. “Shit. Shit… Don’t we know any doctors? What about Dr. Caleb? Didn’t he do home visits for you when you were on duty?”

“He’s retired. Novak needs medicine.”

“Fuck,” Dean muttered. “Give me two hours. Just two hours then we do it your way. Sound good?”

John was silent for a good minute before he finally relented.

“Two hours.”

***************

Jo was the one who ended up thinking just what they could do.

Dean left Sam to keep working away at their current investigation while he drove Cas and Jo to where hopefully Cas would be taken care of. Jo had placed a call and said that the message had gone through, but there was no telling how the request would be taken.

Meg Novak was supposed to be working that day after all.

Jo went up first while Dean stayed with Cas in the car in order to make sure Meg was there. She was back within five minutes and gestured to Dean to bring Cas out of the car. Cas was running a fever, and pretty delirious by this point. He had tried to convince Dean that he should be at work six times, which Dean knew even Cas wouldn’t think was a good idea if he were in his right mind. It took both Jo and Dean to coax him out of the car and up the stairs to Meg’s apartment.

Meg looked less than pleased when they reached the door, but she didn’t say anything when she started convincing Cas to go inside.

“C’mon,” she muttered to him, helping him get over to her couch which had medical supplies she’d managed to swipe from the hospital where she worked as a doctor. The couch and floor was covered in some kind of plastic, though the couch had sheets and blankets on top. Meg made Cas lay down before she turned to Jo and Dean with crossed arms.

“Are you two idiots?” she asked. “If you were going to play operation instead of letting someone who knew what they were doing patch Cas up, don’t you think you could have at least sterilized the needle?”

“We did,” said Dean. “Well Jo wasn’t there, but I saw my dad do the whole… sterilizing thing.”

“Right,” Meg said sarcastically. “And you didn’t take him to a hospital because…? Jo said it was none of my damn business, which is a great way to talk to someone you’re asking a favor from. This wasn’t exactly how I planned on spending my weekend.”

Jo shifted uncomfortably when Dean looked at her for some way to answer. After the silence went on for a while, Dean figured he should be the one to speak.

“Look, Meg, I get that you and Cas… have a complicated past.”

“Jesus Christ, get on with it,” Meg said when Dean stopped to consider how to delicately address the situation. “I’m not made of glass, Ken doll.”

“Did no one ever teach you bedside manner?” Dean snarked back before he could stop himself. “What I’m saying is that he needs a friend right now, and I figure that you can manage that for him for a couple of days. Trust me the last thing I want to do is let my boyfriend’s ex-wife nurse him back to health, but if that’s what it takes to make sure he doesn’t die, then that’s what I’ll do. There is someone out there who is actively trying to kill him, and I figured maybe you would care enough to help us stop that from happening. But if you aren’t-“

“Fine.”

Dean cut off, stunned by Meg’s frigid response. He had partly been trying to bait her, because he knew she still cared about Cas. He’d expected her to get angry about him questioning it, but instead she had just acquiesced without needing further convincing.

“Fine?”

“Someone’s trying to kill him, he needs somewhere secure and unexpected to be. You need me to be a safe house. That’s fine. Just tell me what the fuck it is you’re actually asking for and don’t try to keep me in the dark,” Meg said, glaring momentarily at Jo. Dean was a little lost for words before Meg went back to what appeared to be her usual state of sarcasm. “I can handle it from here. Staring isn’t going help this idiot get any better. So… shoo shoo.”

“You… shoo,” Dean said. Jo raised an eyebrow at that one. “Fine, we’re going. Just… make sure Cas has his cell in case there’s an emergency. And if anything gets worse, you call me. And-“

“I’m sorry, who’s the licensed doctor here?”

Dean and Jo were practically pushed out the door at that point. They exchanged glances when they got back to Jo’s car.

“She sure is something,” Dean said after a few seconds of silence. “I’m guessing you don’t win many arguments when she’s around.”

“Cas could hold his own,” Jo said, driving back toward the station so she could drop Dean off. “That was part of the problem, I think. They’re both a little short tempered, and love to be right. The difference being, Meg doesn’t care how she wins an argument. No matter how miserable it made them both. I had to deal with that shit for twelve years whenever I wanted to hang out with my brother. And she was not nice to me, let me tell ya. He was always too good for her.”

“Just like he’s too good for me, huh?” Dean muttered. He knew he shouldn’t have said it, but Jo had never liked the idea of him being with Cas. She had pretty much just resigned herself to it, just like she had resigned herself to the fact that Cas loved Meg, and as abrasive as Dean found the woman, he could understand what Cas had seen in her.

Jo looked a little guilty, but didn’t bother denying it.

“Is it a crime to want my brother to end up with someone that doesn’t manipulate him?” Jo said instead. Dean didn’t end up having to answer that since they’d finally reached the police station and he could get out and get back to the case. Jo did roll down the window before he could walk away though. “Don’t… don’t think that means I don’t appreciate what you did. Saving his life and everything.”

Dean mustered up a smile and waved her off.

“Go home and hit the books. You’ll never be a lawyer if you’re always slacking off.”

“Fuck you,” Jo said back before rolling up her window and driving off. Dean watched her go and tried to shake off the vague feelings of inadequacy. At least he had an interesting case to get into.

***************

Alfie and Donna returned to Jody within a couple of hours with a frightened secretary in tow. Donna was leading her gently by the shoulders while Alfie told her that he would go wait by the car and she could come back with instructions. Donna nodded back at him before looking at Jody.

“We knew you wanted to keep this off the radar somewhat,” Donna said. “But we’ve got Naomi cuffed in the car. Hester, why don’t you tell Jody what you told me?”

Hester bit her lip and then shook her head and met Jody’s eyes. She was clearly scared, but Jody could see something like relief in her eyes too.

“I overheard a conversation that Naomi had. She didn’t know I heard, but she was on the phone and she was talking about hiring someone to kill Officer Novak. I thought about calling in, I did, but I didn’t know who I could trust. I kept thinking about how there were those two officers—one of them a serial killer even!—and no one knew. Officer Novak’s seems like a nice man, but I… I didn’t want to die.”

“It’s alright, Hester,” Jody said patiently. “You’re telling us now, that’s what’s important. Officer Novak is fine and-“

“What?” asked Hester, her face going pale. “You mean to say… But his next appointment was a week off still. She said she was going to try at his next appointment.”

“Shit,” Jody said under her breath. She was probably going to have to place Hester in a safe location, because she could guess that Hester had acted suspicious enough for Naomi to put in measures in case she became a problem. Which meant paperwork. Fantastic. Jody fixed her mind back to getting as much information as she could from Hester before making sure she got what she needed in terms of protection. “Everything is fine, Hester. Okay? Now all I need is for you to tell me anything else you can remember from this call. Every detail is important.”

Hester swallowed and nodded resolutely, looking as though she was trying to remember.

“Well,” Hester hedged, looking uncertain. “She said the name of the person who was calling. It was a little hard to hear, but it was something like Crosby or Cromlee or-“

“Crowley?” Jody asked. Hester nodded enthusiastically. As if Jody’s day could get any worse. “That makes sense. She has calls going into the prison he was at. I’m guessing he was paying her-“

“Blackmailing,” Hester corrected suddenly, as though remembering something else. “She said she wouldn’t be doing this if he didn’t have something on her. I… I hope that helps.”

Jody had Donna send Hester to the proper department for the paperwork she would need to get for police protection and instructed her to have Naomi booked as quietly as possible. She didn’t want Bradbury or either of the Winchesters getting the scent of what was going on because she just knew they would abandon their case to help Novak, and while that was admirable, it was also unhelpful and not going to help in the long run.

She had Donna and Alfie back in her office as soon as they had finished their task.

“This is still on a need to know basis,” Jody said. “And neither Bradbury or Winchester needs to know, am I understood?”

Alfie and Donna exchanged glances. Alfie swallowed nervously and raised his hand.

“Am a Chief of Police, not a schoolteacher. Out with it,” said Jody. Alfie put his hand down.

“Well… see the thing is… How are we supposed to keep this from Dean? Won’t he just be able to read our minds.”

“Yeah, I was thinking that too,” Donna said, peeking at Jody nervously.

“Well, I guess when he’s around think really hard about something else,” Jody said with what she hoped was an encouraging grin. Neither looked all that convinced. Lucky for them something very distracting was about to happen.

Alfie’s phone went off and he reached for it and saw it was Hannah calling him.

“I’m so sorry, I have to take this,” Alfie said, answering immediately. “Hannah? Really? Right now? No… I’m sorry that was a stupid question it’s just… I’ll be right there.”

Alfie hung up and looked at Jody a wide grin splitting his face.

“I’m going to be a father,” he said. Suddenly his face drained of color and he staggered back into his seat. “Oh god, I’m going to be a father. I need to get to the hospital.”

Alfie sprung out of his seat and ran out the door before running back to it and looking back at Jody.

“Can be excused Chief Mills?”

“Go,” Jody said half exasperated. Alfie turned back around immediately. Donna looked a little worried about him so Jody took pity on her. “You go make sure he gets there alright. After that, I need you to ask around about Crowley. Last I checked he was still in prison, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have more cronies out for Novak’s head. Oh and tell Officer Alfred I said congrats.”

“I will,” Donna said, practically skipping from her seat to chase after her partner. Jody allowed herself a brief smile before trying to refocus on all the work that needed to be done for the day. She gave herself one more moment to give her motivation by looking at her husband and son’s smiling faces. Just a few hours more and she’d get to go home and see them.

***************

Dean had been sitting in the house of Dr. Visyak for about an hour trying to get a “read” on her house, which happened to include several important works of art. Jody had sent them out to her after she’d called in to report one of her paintings missing. Charlie and Jenna had been busy interviewing her about the painting while Sam took notes in case anything important came up while Dean was otherwise occupied trying to figure out how exactly the mysterious man from before had gotten in the locked and alarmed apartment without anyone noticing.

It was as he was contemplating this that he got a text from Eileen.

-Hey, sorry about Novak. Looked into it and think Fergus McCleod (goes by Crowley) hired your hitman. He broke out of prison with help this morning two hours after Novak was hit. This should help.

Dean texted back immediately.

-Thanks. Is this what you were doing this morning? I feel like crap about feeling bad you didn’t show up, now.

Dean watched the little scrolling button for a while before it disappeared and no text came through. Huh. That was not normal Eileen behavior.

Well, he could figure out what exactly was bothering her later. Maybe he’d said something to offend her or Sam had, and she hadn’t shared it yet. It would be odd, considering she was a fairly straightforward person despite the necessary secrecy of her job, and she rarely held back on saying something for her own sake. It must be something with Sam.

Now that Dean thought of it, Sam had been acting weird too.

“I need to get some air,” Dean found himself saying as he exited the apartment. It was on the fourth floor, and Dean had spotted a hole cut into a window a while back. He’d need time to inspect what had been done to the alarm to finish his theory of exactly how this mystery man had gotten in, but he had a gut feeling that whoever it was had hung around just like last time.

Besides he needed to call Cas to warn him about Crowley and Jody to make sure she knew he had escaped from prison.

He strolled out of the ritzy lobby of Dr. Visyak’s building and walked down the road a bit, stopping momentarily to admire a motorcycle before making the short walk down to the beach. He was pretty sure people paid out the ear for a view like this. Dean sat on a bench where he could take a nice long look at the ocean while he made his calls.

He was interrupted before he could take his phone out, however.

“Lovely weather,” remarked a man as he sat next to him. Dean didn’t have to look to know it was the same person who had been outside the art museum earlier.

“You know, usually thieves aren’t this keen to get caught,” Dean said turning so he could see the man’s face. It was… fairly nondescript actually, though it did strike him as vaguely familiar.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said with a smile. “And even if I did, you have no proof I’ve done anything.”

“So if you’re not turning yourself in, why are you talking to me?”

“Partly because you took down Azazel and that has opened up a world of business opportunities for me. I suppose I’m a tad grateful. But also partly because I thought it funny making you look foolish this afternoon. You have talent, what that talent is I couldn’t say, but you’re clearly not disciplined enough to use it. You have no hope of catching anyone above your caliber.”

“Azazel seems pretty dead to me.”

“Azazel was a mad man who was a slave to disgusting vices,” the man hissed quietly. “I would have killed him myself before long. Not literally, if you’re going to quote me on it,” he added, regaining his composure quickly. “People just don’t know how to operate with any class anymore.”

“Oh yeah. Stealing paintings makes you a real class act,” Dean muttered. “I’m going to prove it was you. And I totally called you being British.”

“It’ll be fun to watch you try,” said the man with a smile. Dean turned around to watch him get on the bike Dean had briefly admired and ride swiftly away. At least Dean knew for a fact his motorcycle was better than Mr. What’s His Face.

Dean tried to sift through his memory, knowing he had seen the face somewhere before. He ran through different memories quickly, trying to find the face. He had just remembered it from one of Cas’ files when Sam went down to see what was taking him so long.

“I think I know who we’re dealing with,” Dean said, taking his phone out to call Novak, which he had been planning to do anyway, he remembered. “Give me a sec.”

The phone rang four times before someone picked it up. It was not Cas.

“What?” asked Meg.

“Can you give the phone to Cas?” Dean asked. He paused. “He’s okay right?”

“The fever broke, and he should be fine,” Meg said back. “He’s asked me for his gun back a couple of times when he was still delirious but I think he’s coming around now. Still kind of loopy on pain medication, so I don’t know what use he’ll be to you.”

Dean sighed.

“Put him on anyway, will ya?” Dean asked. A very cautious hello had Dean smiling a little. “Cassie, how’re the pain meds treating you?”

“I’m fine. Is there a problem? Did they find out who shot me?”

“Yeah. Crowley hired someone. Guess he’s mad you finally busted him,” Dean said into the phone. “So Cas, you wouldn’t happen to recognize the name Arthur Ketch, would you?”

“International art thief and supposedly connected to crime elements across the United States? I’ve been building a file about him in recent months,” Castiel confirmed. He paused. “Wait… you aren’t… investigating him are you?”

“Looks that way,” said Dean.

“No,” was all Cas had to say to that. “No, this should be my case Dean.”

“Well, he’s kind of stealing stuff right now,” Dean pointed out reasonably. Castiel actually seemed to growl at that.

“Fine. Give me a few hours and I’ll-“

“Did you miss the part where an escaped convict is trying to kill you? Stay where you are and we’ll take care of it.”

“I don’t care if he steals every piece of art in Santa Barbara, Dean. I spent months building up information on how he works and if you arrest him without me there, so help me God, I will-“

“Yeah, love you too, bye,” Dean said sarcastically before hanging up. He’d forgotten that Sam was sitting next to him and was a little surprised by the odd look Sam was giving him. “What?”

“Nothing,” Sam said, holding his hands up to show his innocence before smirking.

“Whatever. Did you know Novak spends his free time building files on random criminals? He’s such a fucking nerd, Jesus Christ.”

“Is that why you lurve him?” Sam taunted smugly. Dean’s expression seemed to stutter to a halt.

“Don’t be an idiot, Sam. I didn’t mean like love love. I meant he’s an obnoxious bastard that needs to learn he’s not indestructible.”

“Sure.”

“Shut up,” Dean said rolling his eyes. Time for distraction. Sam could be like a dog with a bone if he found something he thought embarrassed Dean. “So I may have just had a conversation with Arthur Ketch.”

“Wait what?”

Dean figured that would be effective.

***************

“You done trying to leave?” Meg asked when she took the phone back from Castiel. He nodded, looking at the phone almost stunned. She saw something of a smile on his face, and set the phone down by a table within reach if it rang again. “So what did ken doll say that got you all excitable?”

“Police business,” Cas said, looking up at the ceiling. “You’d find it boring.”

“Probably,” said Meg. She sat down in the chair she’d dragged over so she could keep an eye on her patient and make sure he didn’t do anything stupid. She watched the stupidly happy little smile stay on his face for a while before finally letting her curiosity get the best of her. “So you and that psychic guy… are things serious?”

“I… I think so,” Castiel said. He actually managed to look at and focus on Meg for the first time since he’d been consciously aware that she was the one taking care of him. It had taken him a while to assure himself she wasn’t some sort of hallucination.

“Good thing I’m the one doing this then,” Meg muttered. “So he doesn’t find out what an asshole you are when you feel useless.”

“He already thinks I’m an asshole. I’m sure he wouldn’t be surprised,” Castiel muttered. “Why… why do you care?”

Meg shrugged and averted her eyes. She picked up one of her magazines and started pretending to read. She was aware that Cas was looking at her again, but she would not look back at him. That didn’t stop her from hearing him when he started speaking again.

“I like him a lot,” he admitted quietly. “So if there’s any chance… If you were to… Now would be…”

“You want me to chase after you, Cas?” Meg asked sarcastically. She saw Cas close his eyes and turn away from her and knew it stung. She sighed and leaned forward to brush a piece of his hair out of his face. “That was never really me was it?”

“No.”

Meg withdrew her hand.

“It’s not going to happen. You can stop waiting.”

Cas nodded, eyes still closed, as though he couldn’t bear to look at her.

“Why wasn’t I enough for you?” he managed at last. When she didn’t answer for a while, he peeked one eye open to look at her, and then opened both and tried to show that he needed an answer. He had to know what he did wrong. Meg gave in.

“C’mon Clarence,” she said. “Your job was your life. I was just… extra. I know you loved me, but I wanted things that we couldn’t have. You didn’t want kids. You didn’t want to take time off. And we both worked all the time and when we did see each other all we did was fight. I know I was running you ragged, trying to keep me happy-”

“You never told me you wanted kids,” Cas interrupted. “You were never very motherly.”

“Don’t be an asshat,” Meg said, resisting the urge to hit him. He’d been shot, that could be retroactive karma for that comment. “So what? I want little munchkins to scream and cry and call me mom someday. It’s not that shocking.”

“I wanted that too,” said Cas quietly. Meg tried to swallow her surprise. “I just… I always thought you didn’t.”

Quiet settled between the two of them for a while until Castiel started to fall asleep. Meg had figured it would have happened earlier, since the meds he was on tended to make people drowsy. He yawned sleepily and Meg on instinct leaned over to press a kiss against his forehead.

“I know you wish things had worked out,” Meg whispered. “But it’s okay to let me go, Cas.”

“I don’t know how to stop loving you,” said Castiel. Meg knew it was the medication making him so vulnerable. That and sheer exhaustion. But sometimes things needed to be said, so she didn’t tell him to get a grip on himself. She figured she owed him this much.

“I get it, angel. I get it. But I think maybe you love someone else now. Focus on that. Do that for me,” Meg said taking a deep breath. “I’m probably going to be a jerk about it. Cause surprise, that’s who I am. Just know, it’s all okay.”

Cas yawned again before finally falling asleep. Meg drank in the sight of him looking so peaceful before forcing herself to stand up and wander off to the kitchen in order to make herself something to eat. She figured Cas would be alright sleeping in the other room for a while.

She didn’t expect to get pistol whipped in the forehead. She fell to the ground unconscious and a black dress shoe nudged her out of the way as the gun was put back in a holster.

“Sorry,” Crowley said, sounding not at all sorry. “Couldn’t have you calling for help. But I have good news: Soon you won’t have to be looking after Officer Castiel Novak anymore.”

***************

“Arthur Ketch?” Jody asked with raised eyebrows. “You think he bothered to come to Santa Barbara?”

“I saw him with my own two eyes,” said Dean. “Did I mention he has like a really nice bike? I gave the make and model to Charlie already, don’t worry, but jeez. He’s like a Bond villain.”

Jody rolled her eyes and looked at Charlie.

“And you saw him too?”

“No,” Charlie admitted. “Neither did Jenna.”

“Sam?” Jody tried. He shook his head. Jody looked at Dean. “It matches previous behavior for Arthur Ketch, but we need more information Dean. Can you tell us where he’s going to strike next? Can you tell us where he’s staying? Where he’s keeping what he’s stolen? Pretty much anything would be good.”

“Oh, that’s easy. He’s going to steal a piece of art.”

“Well thanks for that, Sherlock,” Jody said. “Charlie, have you assembled likely places he’ll hit? If it is Ketch, he always operates in threes.”

“I have,” Charlie confirmed. “From previous pattern I’ve set up an algorithm that suggests the most likely places he-“

“Hey Charlie,” Dean interrupted. “Did… did Azazel have a place in Santa Barbara?”

“A place?”

“Like an apartment? Or beach house?”

“Why?” Charlie asked cautiously. “Azazel’s dead, Dean.”

“I know. I’m not… look, the spirits are telling me that Ketch is the kind of guy that likes to think he’s a big shot. Better than everyone else. Cleaner. Less… in the mud, you know? He doesn’t think of himself as a criminal. He operates in the crime world, but he doesn’t murder for fun, he does it for functional purposes. Even when he steals, he likes to do it with style. The paintings are trophies for his skill right?”

“Get on with it, Winchester,” said Jody.

“What I’m saying is that this is where Azazel got taken down. Santa Barbara. We did that. If Ketch can show us up, that means instant respect and no mess. You don’t kill off your enemy’s men, you win them over. Better loyalty that way.”

“And you’re sure he’ll be there?” Jody asked. Dean nodded and Jody rubbed her forehead before looking at Charlie. “Figure it out and we’ll mobilize.”

“We need to keep it small. He’ll know if we send out too many people,” Dean said. “Don’t ask me how, I just know he’s good and he’s not going down easy.”

“We could really use Novak right about now,” Jody muttered before nodding. “Fine. Bradbury, you take Nickerson with you. Sam, Dean, don’t attempt to engage him. He’ll be armed and you’re not. At best you’ll be hostages.”

“He’s not going to shoot me,” said Dean. “If he wanted to, he already had a shot. It’s beneath him. If he had to shoot me, it means there’s a chance I could have beat him.”

“You two are going to stay in the car,” Jody repeated. “Get going.”

 

***************

Castiel woke after tumbling to the floor. He was groggy enough not to react immediately an paid for it when he was kicked sharply in the stomach. He curled up in an attempt to defend himself before a shoe pressed down on his injured shoulder and ever through the painkillers he felt that. He figured he must have shouted, but the face above his was uncaring.

“Recognize me?” Crowley asked.

“Crowley,” Castiel grit out. He tried to move enough to manage a counterattack, but Crowley just added more pressure against his injured shoulder and smirked.

“It’s funny, I’m almost glad Billie missed. It really will be worth seeing the expression on your face when I kill you.”

Cas was really wishing that Meg had given him back his gun at this point.

“Do you even know what you did to me?” Crowley asked, narrowing his eyes at Castiel’s lack of reaction. Castiel was running through options of how exactly to get out of this situation, and hadn’t spared any brain matter to making Crowley’s revenge more satisfying for the criminal.

Cas managed to knock Crowley’s foot away this time and was almost up again when he was kicked again in the side, and then immobilized with one arm shoved behind his back. Not being injured and under the influence, Castiel suspected he could take Crowley, but right now the man had all the advantage he needed.

“Months in jail. Months. And you’re going to pay for each one. Bela won’t even speak to me. My empire is a shadow of its former self. Oh, I am going to make this hurt.”

Crowley loosened his grip slightly, as if to grab something and Castiel took advantage of it to knock Crowley back and manage to roll over so he was at least facing his opponent. He start to get up before Crowley’s hands lunged for his throat. Cas desperately tried to pull at the hands that were cutting off his airways.

“You ruined my life,” Crowley said. He finally released Castiel, who gasped for breath, relief hitting as oxygen once again hit his lungs. Crowley left him there on the floor before going back to get a bag he had brought, and from it he took out a baseball bat. Oh god, this was not going to end well, and Castiel knew he was in no position to defend himself physically. His mind immediately supplied him the next best option. Talk your way out of it.

“What…” God it was hard to talk after having just been strangled. “What makes Bela leaving you my fault?”

Crowley’s shoulders tightened. Thank god, he’d hit it in one go.

“Would you like me to recount specifics?”

“She fell in love with someone else before I arrested you. I had nothing to do with that.”

“She would still be with me if you hadn’t poked at Arianna Vita’s case.”

“You killed her girlfriend. She was going to find out someday. I did nothing to you that you hadn’t already done to yourself.”

Crowley made an enraged noise and lifted up the bat, and Castiel flinched back. He’d miscalculated apparently and he was going to pay the price for that shortly. He waited for the hit to come, but nothing happened. Instead he eventually opened his eyes and saw that Crowley had sat down heavily on the couch and was… crying?

“She was supposed to love me,” he said. Castiel gingerly sat up and watched the surreal sight of a hardened criminal moved to tears by lost love. “What… do I not deserve to be loved?”

Yes.

Castiel reminded himself not to say that out loud. Instead he swallowed and patted Crowley’s calf for a moment before trying to come up with some sort of platitude that might buy him enough time to not die.

“Sometimes… sometimes it’s not about you,” he said. “Sometimes things don’t work out and it’s nobody’s fault.”

Except in this case it was definitely Crowley’s fault. Don’t say that out loud.

“It’s not like she hasn’t done awful things to me first. We always forgave each other for stealing each other’s business. She cost me millions, and I returned the favor more than once.”

“I think murdering the woman she loved may have been more unforgivable than losing money,” Castiel hazarded. Crowley snorted.

“You didn’t know Bela.”

Castiel didn’t and he’s rather glad now.

“There are other fish in the sea,” Castiel tried again. Dear God, let him live. If he suffered through this indignity and he still got murdered by baseball bat, he and the divine father would be exchanging serious words.

***************

Dean had managed to steal Sam’s keys (again), so he had to deal with the pointed glare Sam gave him when he answered his phone while driving. Whatever, it’s not like he couldn’t do both at the same time.

Sam and Dean were following Jenna and Charlie to the most likely location of property Azazel held in Santa Barbara. It was across town from the police station, which meant they had to hurry if they wanted to catch Ketch in the act, and God that was fun to say. Catch Ketch.

“Hello?” Dean said, having not recognized the number.

“You’re more clever than I thought, I’ll give you that,” Ketch said into the phone. “But I think I can make it worth your while to head into a different direction.”

“I must have you pretty worried,” Dean said, not acknowledging Ketch’s offer for information. “Didn’t you tell me you hadn’t done anything? God, you just can’t trust anyone these days.”

“For one thing, Mr. Winchester, I think you’ll find you prefer my methods to anyone else who wishes to take my place. For one thing, I understand the importance of a good show.”

Dean suddenly flashed back to each of the crime scenes, and remembered that neither Visyak nor Sarah for that matter had looked all that… upset that someone had stolen from them. And Sarah had looked visibly upset when she heard that Dean might be psychic and had even gone so far as to ask Charlie about it.

“You bribe them for it,” Dean said. “That’s why you don’t get caught.”

“Why steal when you can deal? Poor Dr. Visyak was close to having to sell large parts of her collection to pay off debts, and tourism at the Santa Barbara Institute of Art has been declining in recent years. I did both of them a favor,” Ketch confirms. “Of course, being a master thief does carry a certain prestige. And pulling this off means I can vastly expand certain business prospects for myself in the United States. I’m sure you don’t find that pleasant, but isn’t it better to trust the devil you know won’t kidnap and torture your friends?”

Unless I become a problem, Dean thought to himself. He had no doubt that Ketch had killed before and would kill again. He figured Ketch just saw it as… business. He would see murder as messy and not something to be done in a fit of passion, but necessary at times all the same.

“Or all the bad guys could go to jail,” Dean said. A hand waved in front of his face and he realized Sam was trying to get his attention. Dean shook his head at him and returned his attention to the phone. “How does that sound?”

“There’s also the fact that a man named Crowley, whom I’m sure you’re familiar with, is currently aware of the whereabouts of one Officer Castiel Novak,” Ketch said. “Ring any bells?”

Dean’s throat went dry.

“Personally, I would hurry. Crowley is an excellent business man, but he is rather prone to… tantrums I suppose you would call them. I don’t hold out much hope that your friend survives, but if he does, don’t say I never did anything for you.”

Then the line went dead.

“Was that him? What did he say?” asked Sam. Dean ignored him and hit 5 on speed dial so he could get through to Charlie. “Dean?”

“I had a vision. Novak’s in trouble,” Dean said the second Charlie picked up. “We have to go to Meg’s place. Sam will text you the address. We need to move now.”

Dean hung up and tossed Sam the phone and dictated the address and asked he text Eileen too, since Dean had had her staking out the front door. Crowley must have snuck in a different way. Either that or Ketch was lying to him, but somehow Dean didn’t think so. Call it intuition.

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” asked Sam.

“Crowley knows where Cas is,” Dean said shortly. Sam raised an eyebrow.

“You know that? Because if that was Ketch on the phone-“

“He wasn’t lying.”

“So we’re just going to let him get away?”

“By the time anyone gets there, he’ll be gone,” Dean pointed out. “We never had any proof it was him in the first place.”

“This sucks,” Sam said, but he didn’t suggest they go after Ketch. Instead he glanced at Dean and frowned when he saw the tight expression on his brother’s face. “I’m sure Novak will be fine.”

“Yeah.”

Dean started driving faster.

***************

Castiel perked up when he heard sirens outside his apartment. He had spent the last ten minutes desperately trying to keep Crowley talking. Crowley sat up straight and then glared at him.

“You called someone, didn’t you?” he said coldly, pulling out his gun and pointing it at Castiel’s head.

“No,” Castiel said trying to keep his voice steady. He was so close, he just had to convince Crowley it was more trouble to kill him than not. “It must have been the neighbors.”

Crowley clicked the safety off.

“If you shoot me now, you’ll be going back to jail,” Castiel said. “You still have time to leave.”

Crowley kept the gun pointed at him for another half a second before lowering it and flicking the safety back on.

“Has anyone ever told you you are singularly infuriating?” Crowley asked. He stalked back toward Meg’s kitchen, but spared a glance for the officer. “Don’t think this is over.”

He really shouldn’t have turned around. He completely missed Meg Novak lifting a frying pan over her head and smacking him in the side of the face with it. She looked up and opened her mouth to ask if Cas was okay, but seconds later Charlie and Jenna burst through Cas’ front door while Donna came in through the balcony Crowley must have used to get in. They all froze when they saw Crowley groaning on the floor. Donna was the first to recover, and was quick to cuff him and start hauling him away, reciting his Miranda rights all the while. Charlie and Jenna exchanged glances before Jenna walked over to Meg to see how she was doing and Charlie helped Cas up off of the floor to sit on the couch. Castiel did his best not to wince too noticeably and began to hope that Crowley had not managed to break any ribs.

“Do I get to go to a hospital now?” Cas asked. “I think Donna has removed the threat.”

“You are so going to regret saying that when you’re stuck there for days,” Charlie said. Castiel chuckled.

“We came for back up!” Dean said running in. He stopped and looked around. “Never mind. See Sam, I told you it would all work out.”

“Shut up,” Sam said, having ran in behind him. “I thought we were never running again?”

“Yeah, I forgot about that,” Dean muttered surveying the scene. He leveled an impressed look at Meg. “You attacked an armed criminal with a frying pan? That is the most badass Rapunzel shit I have ever seen in real life.”

“Oh I feel like a princess,” Meg said sarcastically, wincing as her fingers poke at the already darkening bruise blooming across the left side of her face from when she had been knocked unconscious. “The compliment means a lot, coming from Victoria’s Secret model number six.”

“Excuse me, that’s number five, actually,” Dean said, playing right back off of Meg’s taunting. “And joke’s on you sweetheart, I look great in lingerie.”

Meg narrowed her eyes at Dean for a moment before letting out a snort.

“Not bad,” she admitted begrudgingly.

“You two are not allowed to get along,” was all Castiel had to say to that. He was pretty sure he needed some sort of medical attention at this point because as the adrenaline was wearing off it was getting harder to focus on anything except pain. Then again the horror of his ex-wife bantering with his boyfriend was a very unwelcome distraction from the difficulty he was still having breathing from having been strangled recently.

Charlie noticed and forced him to lay down while they waited for an ambulance to come for him and Meg. It wasn’t long at all until Cas drifted off to sleep.

***************

They were all still waiting for Cas to wake up again. Dean had managed to charm his way past the nurses that were supposed to be keeping them away (big surprise), but everyone else had been confined to the waiting room. Sam sat in the corner with Eileen. It had been twenty minutes and neither had said or signed anything to each other the entire time. Sam wondered what exactly Eileen’s interpretation of the tense silence was, considering to her the world was always silent. She could obviously still feel it, if the unnatural set of her shoulders and her determination to stare straight ahead was any indication.

Sam broke first.

“You should have told me you were chasing after Crowley,” Sam said after tapping her on the shoulder. Eileen’s mouth twitched unhappily and she looked up at him with the closest to open hostility she had ever come since the day they had first met.

“Why?”

“Because you could’ve been hurt.”

“I think it’ll take more than a second tier criminal to kill me,” said Eileen dismissively. “I do this for a living Sam. You know that.”

“But not here,” Sam said. “Not when you’re with me.”

“Why?” Eileen repeated. “Because you don’t trust me to be able to handle myself?”

“No, of course not!” Sam said, already not getting where this conversation was going. “Because this all has to do with Dean’s crazy psychic thing, and I don’t want you mixed up with that.”

“Mixed up with your family, you mean?” Eileen asked. “You can’t separate your life out like that. I’m never going to be someone who waits for you to get home at night. You knew that from the start. And I like Dean. We’re friends, so regardless of if you want me there or not, I’m going to help him when he has trouble.”

Sam pulled his hair out of his face in frustration as he tried to collect his thoughts and explain to Eileen that that is so not what he meant. He wasn’t trying to keep Eileen out…

“I’ve been thinking of quitting,” Sam said. “Not Sandover, just the psychic assistant craziness. After we get married… I’m going to settle down and I just want to start distancing us from that. Both of us eventually.”

Eileen’s anger transformed to sheer disbelief as she listened to Sam’s explanation. She let out an honest to God laugh when he was done.

“You think that’s funny?”

“I think you don’t know yourself very well,” said Eileen. “Sam, do you remember why you told me you decided not to go to law school?”

“I didn’t decide not to go,” Sam said. “Dean won enough money for a trip to Europe in a poker game, and he asked if I wanted-“

“You chose to go off on an adventure over the career path you’d spent years of your childhood planning,” Eileen said firmly. “You like the crazy. You just think you shouldn’t.”

“Eileen-“

“I love you, but pretending to be someone you’re not is a deal breaker,” said Eileen. “I’m not normal. If you want that find someone else. Even if I could fit into whatever domestic ideal you have planned out, you couldn’t. It would always be one more case. It would always be you trying to hide the fact that you’re still working with your brother. You don’t need to sneak off in order to be yourself.”

Sam swallowed at Eileen’s statements.

“You’re wrong.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being unorthodox,” Eileen pointed out. “We don’t need 2.5 kids and stability to prove we work well together.”

Nobody said anything for a moment. This time Eileen broke first.

“I’m not saying that you can’t quit. Just… I fell in love with the Sam who thought working for the CIA and going undercover at a wedding was the most fun he’d ever had. I love you, not some dream version of you that you thought up when you were a kid. I just want you to do what you want, not what you seem to believe you should want.”

Another several seconds passed by before all of the tension in Sam’s body seemed to slowly drain out of him as he realized what Eileen was saying. Eileen picked up on his change in body language right away, and took his hand. He squeezed back, rubbing his thumb over the engagement ring on her finger.

“You know Dean’s not actually psychic right?” Sam asked. Eileen rolled her eyes.

“I wish you would stop underestimating me,” Eileen said. “I haven’t seen it at quite the level your brother can do it at, but there are techniques that-“

“Eidetic memory,” Sam supplied.

“Makes sense,” Eileen said. Sam waited for her to go on and Eileen seemed to realize what he needed to hear. “I’m not going to tell anyone.”

Sam nodded and closed his eyes.

“I trust you.”

Eileen’s face finally softened into a smile at that. She leaned her head against his shoulder, and Sam rested his chin on top of her head. They stayed like that a moment before going back to looking at each other so that Eileen could read his lips.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Next time… next time something happens I won’t freak out like this. It’s just… everyone else I ever went out with lost interest in me as soon as they saw what my life was like. I’ve always… I’ve always felt like such a freak.”

“I can relate,” Eileen said. “But different isn’t bad. It’s just different.”

“You know, I really can’t wait to marry you for the rest of my life.”

“I love you, too,” Eileen said. The two went back to watching the door for news, but this time the silence that fell was a touch more comfortable. Despite having cleared up any misunderstandings between them, Sam still had a lot to think about.

***************

Castiel felt like he had been hit by a truck. When he finally convinced himself that opening his eyes was probably a good idea, he saw a white ceiling and surmised fairly quickly he was probably in a hospital bed. He sat up, ignoring the sharp jabs of pain in his ribs until a hand gently pushed him down.

“Hey Cas, about time you woke up,” Dean said. “I’m going to get the nurse and let everyone know you’re okay. You are okay right? No amnesia or anything?”

Castiel had a very strong urge for a moment to speak in half remembered Russian just to fuck with Dean, but decided he was too tired.

“I didn’t get hit on the head, Dean.”

“There’s the cranky bastard we all know and love,” Dean said with a grin. “Meg’s mostly fine by the way. No concussion, no damage to her sight. Figured you’d want to know that.”

“Thank you,” Castiel managed. Dean nodded and then when the nurse walked in he made a motion toward the door with his hand before disappearing out of it quickly. Castiel went through a series of questions and was told that his ribs were bruised (but not broken), he still needed antibiotics for the infection he had picked up after getting shot, and there might be some mobility issues with his shoulder, thought they didn’t know that for sure. Castiel listened to it and decided none of it sounded all that bad and figured he was mostly thankful he hadn’t been beaten into a bloody pulp. As much as he had feared for his life when going up against Crowley it was nothing compared to the terror Azazel had inspired in him.

The nurse finished by saying that he could have visitors now if he wanted and Castiel agreed immediately, though the nurse suggested people only be let in a few at a time. Castiel didn’t care but asked only that Jo be let in first and be allowed to stay.

Jo immediately camped herself out in a chair by his bed and glared at Dean for managing to convince the nurse’s somehow that he should be allowed to watch Cas at all times while she had to wait in the waiting room. She got over it after talking to Castiel for a while and making sure he was okay and then she stopped talking and let Cas reassure Charlie and Jenna and Donna that he was okay. Sam and Eileen stopped in for a while, and both Meg and Jody made very brief appearances to make sure he was alright. After about an hour the nurse ushered everyone except Jo out, though even she left when Castiel said he really was fine and she didn’t need to be there. Castiel suspected she only actually left so she could call Bobby and Ellen and fill them in on what had happened. Which meant he was going to get an earful of worried parent within twenty four hours so he might as well enjoy the peace and quiet now.

Dean stuck around despite Cas’ protests and had a secretive smile that meant he was up to something. He disappeared at regular intervals before circling back to Cas’ room every fifteen minutes or so to check on him. It was two hours before he finally let Castiel into why he was acting so strangely.

“Think you could handle one more visitor?” Dean asked. Castiel was tired, but he nodded anyway out of curiosity of what exactly was happening. Dean went over to the door and opened it to let in a visibly beaming Alfie carrying… oh. “Alfie wanted to see you, but as you can see, he’s been a little busy today.”

“Hannah’s resting now, so I thought I’d bring her so she could cheer you up,” Alfie said. Castiel managed a tired smile at that. “You want to hold her?”

Castiel nodded and Alfie showed him how exactly to support the head before letting Cas take over for himself.

“What’s her name?” Cas asked, his voice much softer than Dean had ever heard it before.

“Hael Cassidy Alfred,” said Alfie. “Hannah wanted to name her after her mother when we found out she was a girl. Then again, I knew for a while since Dean let me in on it. Hannah was a little cross when she found out, but I think she was too happy to meet Hael to stay mad.”

Dean wondered if Cas had somehow missed that Alfie had clearly modeled the middle name after him. Probably. He sometimes missed the obvious when it came to things like that.

“Actually, I was wondering if you might… Hannah wanted to ask her sister to be a godmother, but she’s not married, so I suggested that in addition we could… if you wanted, sir… I thought maybe you could…”

It took Castiel a second to get it.

“You want me to be her godfather?” he asked, sounding floored. That was the only thing that stopped Dean from asking if he should get Cas a ring for everyone to kiss.

Alfie nodded.

“You don’t need to decide now, but I wanted to ask,” he said. “You’re one of the best men I know, and it would… just think about it.”

Castiel nodded, still looking stunned. Alfie gently lifted Hael from his arms before starting toward the door.

“Let’s go see mommy, okay Hael?” Alfie murmured, grinning at Dean again as he passed him. Dean watched him go and figured that Alfie was going to be unbearably happy for the foreseeable future. He gave it two weeks before the exhaustion wore him back down to his normally optimistic but somewhat more reserved self.

Dean shut the door and then sat down in the chair Jo had been monopolizing before she’d left.

“You know, it’s kind of cute the whole hero worship crush he has on you.”

“Be quiet. Don’t ruin this for me,” Castiel said, still smiling to himself. Dean chuckled at the sight.

“What? It’s sort of like Walter White and Abraham Lincoln. You know… Oh Captain, my captain and all that.”

“You mean Walt Whitman?”

“I’ve heard it both ways.”

“No you haven’t,” said Castiel, sounding annoyed. Dean crossed his arms smugly for having managed to get a reaction out of him and Castiel rolled his eyes at Dean’s immaturity. “You know you don’t have to stay.”

“Someone has to text Jo updates every hour.”

“Then you really don’t have to stay.”

“It’s fine,” Dean said. He leant back in his chair and put his feet up on Castiel’s bed. “But if you want to make it up to me, I could use a foot rub.”

“Fuck off,” Castiel said, closing his eyes and pretending that he’s not smiling. He really is tired and it’s not long until he’s asleep again.

****************

At long last Jody was going to get to go home and relax. Novak was okay, Crowley was back in jail, and Naomi was in custody while Hester was being kept safe so she could testify against her. Sure, Ketch had gotten away, but they had never been able to specifically link him to the crimes anyway. Everything should be fine.

It was just as she was about to leave her office that the phone rang. She debated just leaving it, but in the end she knew it would bother her if she did and she’d rather get a good night’s sleep with Sean than spend half the night wondering what the call might have been about.

“Jody Mills, Chief of Police,” Jody answered.

“Yes, this is Michael Milton,” answered an almost too professional voice. “I’ve been hired by the mayor to investigate your police station and recommend whether or not disciplinary action is necessary.”

Jody’s grip on the phone tightened.

“Excuse me?”

“It’s come to his attention that another employee of the SBPD has been discovered to be corrupt and he wants to ascertain that all is well. It’ll be my job to recommend any actions he might take to remedy the widespread corruption at the SBPD, possibly including suspensions or reordering of the hierarchy there. This is a notice, and I’ll call again once I have settled on dates in which I can observe your police department at work.”

Jody swallowed and nodded before remembering she would have to answer verbally.

“Understood.”

“Have a nice night,” Michael said in a cool clipped voice before hanging up. Jody shoved the phone back in place. Well, so much for that good night’s sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Well that's it for now! Let me know what you thought and any feedback is appreciated.


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